Posts

Chapter ThreeIt was just a second or two, but I was so
surprised that I shut the door again before I’d even begun to register what on
earth was happening. I was in such a state of shock my first thought was that I
must have opened the wrong door, so I traced my steps back to the bathroom in
the dark, managing to stub my toe in the process before daring to put on the
landing light. I was feeling spooked by the whole experience, though to be
perfectly honest, it was very disappointingly lacking in scariness. When I got back
to my room I opened the door, hesitatingly, but as in all the best frightening
tales the vision was gone. I’ve decided
I saw a snapshot in time, as anyone living in an old house might see, though I
really feel it was more than that. The girl, the room and all the objects were
real and solid - not a wisp of ethereal ghostliness or ectoplasm, yet a part of
me still can’t quite believe it. Had I been dreaming? One thing I
did investigate immediately was the room next to m…

Chapter Two
Caroline
Bath, Somerset
November 1975 Having survived shopping, which wasn’t at all the
trial I was expecting and turned out to be fun, I’m now writing this in my new
bedroom. I’d thought when we first got here that I might as well be Catherine
Morland because the houses haven’t changed since Jane Austen’s time, and
stepping inside the hallway and the reception rooms on the first floor you
might be forgiven for thinking you’d gone back in time. It’s very Georgian,
furnished with tourists in mind, and scented with the magical fragrance of a
house that’s only ever known brimming flower bowls of milky narcissus and heady
lilac in spring or spires of delphiniums and plump roses in summer. It’s full
of the sights and smells of life lived luxuriously - elegant Chippendale
furniture, watered silk on the walls, embroidered cushion covers on satin sofas
in the drawing room, and giltwood pier glasses set between the windows. The scent of
fragrant wood smoke, wax candles, and Christma…

I've loved writing Searching for Mr Tilney and I hope you'll enjoy reading it too. Here's a peek at the Prologue and Chapter One - Chapter Two will be posted tomorrow!
Prologue
Caroline
Chelsea, London
July 2017
I found it in an old bookshop in Cambridge a few weeks ago, on a tour of the city. It was a hot day, and to step inside the cool book-lined walls of the crooked Tudor building was like finding heaven on earth. I’d become ever more obsessed as the years went by in my quest to find even the smallest detail of tangible proof for all that had happened to me as a young girl, and I’d scoured every relevant book I could find for any clues to support the insight I’d gained. Though the overwhelming guilt that I’d done nothing about my discovery had softened over the years, I could never decide if I’d been right to keep its knowledge hidden, and even now I felt it might have been wrong to collude in guarding such secrets.
It was midsummer’s day when I found the rare copy…

I'm very excited to announce the publication of Searching for Mr Tilney- a new novel inspired by Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, which is celebrating its 200th year of publication. I do hope you like the cover! The official release date is on Tuesday April 11th for the Kindle version, but the paperback is out on Amazon and available in store across the usual channels.

What secrets lie at the heart of Jane Austen’s teenage journal? When
Caroline Heath is taken to Bath in 1975, she little expects to find the
gothic adventure she craves, let alone discover Jane Austen’s secret
teenage journal, or how it’s possible to live in someone else’s body.
Yet, she’s soon caught up in a whirlwind of fantastic events - travels
through time, a love story or three, and even the odd sinister murder -
or so she thinks. As the past and present entwine, Jane’s journal
reveals a coming of age tale, set against the scandalous backdrop of
Knole Park in Kent, and the story behind an enigmatic…

-->
I'm delighted to welcome Catherine Curzon to my blog once again as she celebrates the publication of her new book, Kings of Georgian Britain. In this intriguing excerpt Catherine gives us a little insight into the relationship between the first King George and his new bride-to-be Sophia Dorothea of Celle. It's a fascinating article and I'm sure, like me, you'll want to know more! ‘I will not marry the
pig snout!’ The Georgian era was glittering, revolutionary, and
tumultuous. It was a time when the world changed, when the landscape of the
United Kingdom was redrawn and when the Stuart dynasty, once the rulers of
England, were pushed aside in favour of the House of Hanover. Yet the
beginnings of that new British dynasty were far from secure, and from the very
beginning, the marriage of the first King George was destined to end in tears. George was not a king, not even a prince when, as a
young man in Hanover, he was told that he was to marry his cousin, Soph…